Droplets, Pebbles, Sparks and Breezes
by Arisprite
Summary: Or short tales from the people of the four nations. Random fancies and drabbles some humorous, some not. Rated T to be safe, friendship or canon pairings.
1. A Fire Lord's Apology

Fire Lord Zuko wiped a hand over his brow, and clenched his teeth to stop nervous tremors. This was stupid! He'd faced his father and his sister, he could face one wronged Earth Kingdom girl and her mother. 

Zuko looked out of the plain carriage he rode in, seeing the green land roll by. It was all vaguely familiar, recalled from the time that he and Uncle had been refugees and wanderers. He liked to think that the landscape was richer now, healthier, come out from under the shadow of the hundred years war. He was doing all he could and then some to turn the lands and people back to the way they were before his grandfathers had started the whole terror. He'd helped end it, he could fix it too. 

That was why he was currently, dressed in earthy green and brown, riding through the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom village that had taken them in so long ago (though it was only really a few months, half a year maybe, since they'd been scraping a living out of the dust on the way to Ba Sing Se.). Zuko had repaid that kindness with the worst sort of insult. He knew that now, and he knew as he'd untied the Ostrich-Horse. Song and her mother had saved Uncle's life, fed them, and given them sympathy and understanding, and Zuko had spat that back in their face. He'd been an ungrateful, stupid idiot! 

The wood under Zuko clenched hand heated enough to singe, and he quickly pulled his hand away from the edge of the window, running it over his face. The toughened skin of his scar scraped under his finger tips, and he remembered how Song had reached out to him, had shown him her scars, scars he'd been responsible for! Sighing, he stood and stepped quickly out of the still moving carriage. The two guards sitting at the front noticed the weight change, and pulled the ostrich-horses hauling them to a halt. 

"Your Majesty?" One of them said, a wide eyed guard no older than Zuko himself. His name was Li, ironically. Zuko waved a hand. 

"I just want to walk for a while. Keep moving." Li nodded, perhaps recognizing the restlessness of youth. He turned forwards and snapped the reins.

The carriage started rolling beside him, but Zuko waited till he was even with what were attached to the backs of the carriage before starting to walk. Tied in a train behind the carriage, and guarded by three men, were eight more ostrich-horses, all in the best condition, to replace the one he'd stolen. They would be presented with the Fire Lord's formal seal of apology and favor and enough feed and money to make them comfortable for both the horses, and their owner's lives. He hoped that Song would give him a chance to say he was sorry in person as well.  
Zuko didn't think that mere material possessions would make up for what he'd done, but they would help, he hoped.


	2. After 8 Minutes

"Your punishment will be much steeper." There was a moment's pause, and Ozai looked down on his traitor of a son, standing there, so _defiant_. So like his mother, refusing to let him do was needed to be done to gain his desires. At least Ursa had shown loyalty to him. This pup, barking against his master, did no such thing. And for that, he would pay. 

They both felt it the instant the sun returned, the slightest sliver grew, and filled Ozai's veins with enough power to make good on his threat. He launched into action, his arms whipping into the lightning forms with no effort. 

Ozai enjoyed the minute look of surprise on Zuko's disfigured face, as the electricity arced between them, carrying Ozai's blatant message. _You are my son no longer, traitor. You are weak, and pathetic, and I'm done trying to shape you into something I could be proud of._

The lightning would finish him off, for there was no defense against it. 

A niggling thought whispered that the Avatar had survived it... 

The barest second later, Zuko's surprise had turned to determination, and he was _catching the lightning bolt?_ Ozai watched as his son-turned-betrayer moved his arms in a flowing, and unfamiliar form, moving the lightning and shooting it back where it came from, directly at Ozai.  
The explosion flung him backwards, and when he looked up, hair falling into his face, Zuko was gone.


	3. Haikus

Aang  
Child woken from ice  
His Destiny to face fire  
almost by love failed

Katara  
Waterbender, heart  
filled with compassion until  
War, betrayal, hurt.

Sokka  
Sarcasm, humor  
Hide the sorrow within him  
A moon-changed Princess

Toph  
Bends metal, earth, rock  
She sees the world with her feet  
Not a porcelain doll

Zuko  
Two natures war inside  
To remedy past mistakes  
Aang learns firebending

Azula  
Trained for cruelty  
Her mother thought a monster  
Tears fall, a broken girl

Mai  
Boredom, smirk, a mask  
The knives fly from her fingers  
Only a letter

Ty Lee  
One of seven dolls  
I'm not one of a matched set  
Flying through the air

Suki  
Sexist set straight, beat  
Fight alongside, warrior's paint.  
A kiss on the cheek


End file.
